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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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THE AREA ENGINEER CORPS OF ENGINEERS CORPS OF ENGINEERS Office Of The Area Engineer Area Name Berkeley Project Designation Univ.of Calif. Period Ending 30 November 1946 C ontraot o r : The Regents of the University of California De scription : Besearch Date of Cant rac t t 1 May 1943 t o 30 June 1947
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Approximate Expense f o r November 1946: 3b 411,700. Approximate Expense f o r November 194.6 broken down Approximate Expense t o 30 November 1946: $ 18,308,161. Estimated Cost t o 30 June 1947: 1. Laboratory Vork - Project 482 was begun zn 1 November 1946. It was possible t u produce a deuteron beam of approximately 200 MEV. During the month considerable effort has been expended on cloud chamber studies of the effects of the high energy neutrons produced by bombardrnsnt of targets with the deuteron beam. Several star disintegrations have been found and numerous high energy recoil protons. It has been found, as expeoted, that the neutron beam produced i s intensely colunurated inthe forwarded direction. The radiations produced during t h e operation have been found t o be extremely penetrating and the shielding arrangements necessary for the protection of personnel under steady operating conditions are still under study. Numerous bombardments were performed during the month for the purpose of studying the induced radio-activity i n several elements by high energy deuteron and neutron bombardment. Afew operational difficulties were enoountered during the month but satisfactorily overcone. For example, the rotary oondanser was modified t o increase clearances t o avoid binding during operation and t o increase pumping speeds. of two which power the 134" magnet) was removed for one week fora
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Copy I( )f 6 copies. Series A b. Linear Accelerator - Calculations have been completed on drift tuber for the Linear Accelerator and data i s now available with which t o calculate drift tube dimensions and gap spacing of the first forty foot section. The V a n de Graaff generator has progressed considerably i n assembly. "he equipment i n the high voltage electrode i s now being installed and the tex to lite tubes forming theA support frame are nuw Tests have been conpleted on a 30-centimeter uniform scale model of the linear accelerator which was machined t o the same relative tolerance a s required for the forty-foot section, and it has been found possible t o excite a uniform mode i n the chamber without the necessity of additional tuning of the cavity. found possible t o suppress unwanted modes without affecting the desired one . Further, it oras The f i v e megowatt magnetron has been cmpleted and it i s now undergoing cold tests. A series of measurements using flares on the ends of the drift tubes indicate that it will be possible to get a material increase inQ and in shunt impedence of the cavity. higher energiea it will be possible t o use narrower gaps. result in a considerable enhancement inthe operation of the accelerapulsed line. It has been run as high as 23 megowatts with a 300 micro-second pulse and with a duty cycle of 1/250 delivering fifteen pulses per second. these operating conditions i s approximately 100 h. This makes it t h e largest pulsed line ever constructed from the standpoint of storage capacity and power output. This means that at Fairly extensive tests have been completed on the high power It i s now functioning smoothly. The average power under Several possibilities are being explored for methods of exciting the linear acaelerator. oscillator assembly which i s being worked on now i s an additional modification of the radar transmitter and i s yielding excellent res u l t s . It has been found possible, by modifying the circui't of the radar sets,to get all four tubes t o share an equal part of the load. It will be possible, using these modified sets,to obtain about 60% greater output with the same power or, conversely, t o obtain the normal output with a corresponding reduction in power. ti all yu ou3ete. The instal x tion of diffusion pump and piping will proper w i l l be completed by early March 1947. It i s presently expected-that ths Go hro tron This, however, depends
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upon General Electric meeting their shipping date on the parts for the magnet and plastic vacuum chamber. parts from General Electric is for the week of 20 December l9U. engineer from the synchrotron staff has been sent to General Electric to aid in planning and t o expedite the shipments. The latest shipping date of a l l Thirty-four of t h e eighty required magnet pole piece segments have been manufactured, t o date, and their magnetic character is tics have been determined. stainless steel has proceeded. alloy would be better for these grids due t o superior electrical probe fabricated from this material. Manufacture of' t h e de8 grids from It isnm thought that a manganese If the shipment of this alloy arrives in time the grids will The laboratory has located 2700 tons of i r o n ore concrete ballast blocks which can be used for shielding the synchrotron, block is approximately 9" x 11" x 13" and weighs 200 pounds. expense in procuring this raaterial will be that of hauling it from its ' formed wit r the 200 IEV deuterons from the 184" cyclotron, induced activity has been observed i n some samples, although most of these experiments are still in thep elislinary stage. In the case of natural uranium, activities due t o $3O and t o isotopes of radium were observed, indicating the emission of more particles than has ever before been observed. decay of Np230 which w a s produced by a d,lOn reaction. The $3' observed was presumably produced by A group went t o Chicago during the month t o measuro fission ability in the Uranium heavy water pile of a number of samples which had been produced by cyclotron bombardment here and by neutron ntsat Clinton and a t ISanford. For example a sample o whioh had been produced by the reaction Pu*39(a,3n)C2 was observed t o undergo fission with a very large cross-section. ther, it was possible t o obtain confirmation of the previous slow possible t o confirm the formerly reported values for the fission cross-section of C&. The original value reported was apparently erroneous, due t o t h e presence of contaminants. The present crosssection ismch smaller by a factor of tento one hundred. It was found i m - nitride slzg which had received a one-aonth bombardment a t Hanford i s being put through a complete procedure f o r the extraction of C-14. It appears possible t o obtain a good fraction of the carbon having a conoentration of (2-14 of greater than 50% and with some of the C-14 a t
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page 5 of 4 pages, I of 6 copies. Series 1 The Synthesis of acetic acid labeled i n the carboxyl group have been achieved in yields of better than 95%. teri al chloroaoetic acid has been prepared with a yield of 94%. Tyrosine labeled i n the Beta carbon has been administe red to metanornous mice and its metabolism i s being followed. Pyruvio acid labeled i n the carbonyl group is being prepared and isto be used inthe study of the route of deoomposition of both the free acid and the ester as well as for further synthesis, The synthesis of 1, 2 , 5, 6 dibenzanthracene labeled i n the nine axxi ten positions will be completed this month, 'ccc r..t,-'_- c'4"c".-c.,;.'"r..--*cN .C, a. The Metabolic Properties of Plutonium and Allied Materials -Tracer and-radi oautographic studies are continuing with americium. i s being done on the preparation of suitable solutions of radio-oerium, for intravenous administration t o human subjects, Bone decontamination studies are continuing, including long t e r n studies of overlaying of plutonium deposita in oats, the effect of methionine on the chronic elimination and distribution of plutonium i n the rat, and the influence of cysteine in j eat ions on the absorption and bone deposition o f plus 6 plutonium administered by intramuscular and intravenous injection. Data i s now complete on the effect of severe phosphorous deficiency on the metaboligni of radio-strontium, radio- . phosphorous, and plutonium administered simultaneously tothe same group of animals. A complete report on this work i s t o be submitted shortly. b. Continued assistance was rendered local naval personnel i n the promem of ship decontamination. a. Vapor Pressure of Graphite - Several more determinations To estab-oonfirm thy heat of sublimation o f 170 ki lo calories per mol .- li sh this value more closely it will be necessary t o measure more accurately the C2-C equilibrium. tWs apparatus has been built using carbon black insulation and a graphite heating elemant. heating elements should allow t h e attainment of temperatures approaching 4,0OO0C, In addition t o graphite vapor pressure studies, this apparatus will be used for the preparation of c in te red carbide forms and other high temperature studies. For this purpose a new high temperaIn this apparatus temperatures i n excess of Modification of this apparatus using TIC or ZrC
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of analysis of Preliminary Pile Bork - Na-U-Sn and Na-U-Bi systems has been devised. Liquid Metal %stems - A convenient and rapid method (2) Thermal Conductivity Nork - An apparatus has been built for the approximate determination of thermal oonductivities of refractories of interest in the temp rat ure range 20-100° C. - Mixtimes of UO wLth fission product op ration are begng studied t o determine at ability in Mo containers a t high temperatures. decontamimtion CUILB: have been completed. as the organic solvent and one using toluene. represent duplicate experiments. gave an over-all recove Chelation Extraction Process - Five recovery and Four were done using benzene The four benzene runs The data obtained on thesa four runs from 98.54% t o 98.91% a beta decontarninatfon . IT10, and a gamma decontamination factor from + 5 8t o 4 x 10 . For the toluene run the ove 11 recovery w a s 99.67%, the beta decontamination decontamination factor was 3x1 was 3 x 10gIaand the gamma November 1 3 0 November 30 a t o t a l of 24 b l ood counts were done on 8 patients. Sedimentation rate study was done on one patient. Prothrombin time studies were done on one patient. Cholesterol studies were done on one patient. b. Yadioiodine Studies - In November 30 milli curies of radio i odin r were received. uptake. the retention in the thyroid, the retention in certain metastatic lesions and urinary excretions were determined. This was administered to 17 patients. The The services of a physicist were obtained. of the time was spent i n orientation o f the physicist. tics of the counters were studied. Lt. Col., lilorps of Engineers,